The 2008 financial collapse of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac resulted in a sweeping government bailout that cost the American taxpayers $150 billion. Economist Viral V. Acharya, co-author of Guaranteed to Fail: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Debacle of Mortgage Finance, argues that given government policy, the meltdown was virtually inevitable. He discusses how economic damage can be limited and how to avoid the same mistakes in the future.

Acharya is professor of finance at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research.